


Mistletoe, Alcohol and the Defense of Virtue

by Caedmon



Series: Advent [9]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8798611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: The Doctor has brought Rose to Jackie's annual Christmas party. Mickey is drunk and there's mistletoe everywhere.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Day nine of ['Advent'.](http://archiveofourown.org/series/596995)

The Doctor was having a better-than-expected time at Jackie’s annual holiday shindig...although that wasn’t saying much. Rose's mother had invited all her friends and neighbors to crowd her already-small flat, but the atmosphere was festive and the Doctor thought that, all in all, he could think of worse ways to spend the Saturday evening before Christmas. 

Jackie had called Rose to invite them - both of them - a month prior, then called every day after until Rose agreed to go. Rose’d told the Doctor they would, in fact, be going to the party, a statement to which he’d shaken his head, raised his hands, and repeated the word ‘no’ at least half a dozen times. He had extreme difficulty saying ‘no’ to her, but in this case, the thought of an inebriated Jackie Tyler was enough to make him overcome that hurdle. 

“Doctor…” Rose had wheedled.

“I don’t want to,” he'd said in what he thought was a very reasonable tone.

“I didn’t want to turn into a statue. Or lose my face. Or nearly get sucked into a black hole, or nearly be sacrificed by the Bengwa.”

_Oooh, that was just playing dirty, that was._

“Rose -”

“We’re going, Doctor.”

He had steeled himself, squaring his shoulders just a bit. “I’ll be more than happy to take you to your mum’s for her Christmas party. Brilliant. Fantastic. Molto bene. But I won’t be staying, ta.”

Her hands had gone to her hips and there it was - the Rose Tyler Glare of Doom™. When used effectively, it was known to cause the utter destruction of any and all willpower. 

The Doctor cursed to himself, then took a different tactic. The most effective tool in his arsenal against the Glare of Doom™. 

The Puppy Dog Eyes™. 

“Rooooose…” he’d whined. “Your aunt will pinch my bum - and you know how I feel about having my bum pinched by old ladies. Not so pleasant, that. And the music will be loud and it’ll be crowded and -”

He’d stopped suddenly when Rose’s eyes swelled with tears. She blinked at him once, then looked away, dashing her hand across her cheek. “No, it’s fine. Stay here. I’ll go by m’self.”

Well, that did it. The battle had been lost. He had a hard enough time saying ‘no’ to her under the best of circumstances. It was damn near impossible to say ‘no’ if she was crying. Rose rarely cried. 

He’d sighed. “Alright. We’ll _both_ go. But I’m taking bananas.”

And with that acquiescence, he now found himself standing against one of Jackie’s walls, surveying the crowd, nursing a (surprisingly delicious) egg nog. It was alcoholic, of course, but that was no problem for him. Superior Time Lord physiology and all that. A physiology that had been remarked upon several times that night by randy aunts and neighbors. 

The Doctor had expected to use Rose as his shield against such advances, but she was nowhere to be found. Odd, that. Rose loved a party. Furrowing his brow a bit, he stepped off of the wall and set out to find her. 

Twenty minutes later, after he’d been waylaid by three different conversations about Rose: how sweet she was, how good, and how he’d better be treating her right (since everyone believed he was her bloke - thanks, Jackie), he finally made it to the first stop on his search - the kitchen. He darted his head in quickly, looking around for Rose, and almost missed her standing alone in the corner. Once he spotted her, though, he beamed the way he always did when she was in sight. 

“Rose Tyler!” he said, sauntering into the kitchen with one hand in his pocket. “What are you doing in here? It’s a party! You love parties. Come on out and say hello!”

Rose didn’t answer, she just stuffed a bite-size eclair in her mouth and shook her head. 

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at her in concern then approached, coming to stand at her shoulder. She didn’t acknowledge him, just ate a cream puff and reached for a deli spiral. 

Well, now. This was _most_ unusual. 

“Rose? Are you alright?”

She looked at him, finally, and her eyes held anxiety, uncertainty, and a hint of remorse. 

“This was a bad idea,” she said with a shake of the head, looking back down at her plate. “We shouldn’t have come.”

“Nah. I’m actually having an alright time of it. Well, that is, when I can keep -”

“Mickey’s here,” she blurted. 

He just looked at her, nonplussed. “And?”

“ _And_ he’s drunk.”

“So is everyone here. I’ve even let down my defenses just a bit so that I can have a nice little buzz, myself. Not a bit one. Just an eensy little buzz.”

“Yeah, but you’re not Mickey. Well, _drunk_ Mickey” she reasoned. “He told me just a few minutes ago that he intended to get his Christmas kiss.”

That got the Doctor’s attention. _He_ may not be able to kiss her, but he’d be damned if the Idiot would. 

“You don’t want to?”

“No!” she almost shouted. “Not since…” She gave him an assessing look, then sighed and shook her head, reaching for another eclair. “No. I don’t want to kiss Mickey.”

“So don’t kiss him,” he shrugged. “Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Of course _you_ would think it’s that easy. Of _course_ you would.”

The Doctor was genuinely nonplussed. “Seems like it to me. Why isn’t it?”

“You’re not the one trying to avoid being kissed when Mum, in some kind of decorating fit, decided to put mistletoe _everywhere_. It’s going to be too bloody easy for him to catch me somewhere and kiss me.”

He had noticed the multiple kissing couples under sprigs of mistletoe, but hadn’t thought much about it. He knew it to be a human tradition, snogging under greenery at Christmas, but he’d never considered that some people might not _want_ to be kissed.

“Then the solution is simple,” he announced, chuffed that he had a solution and more than a little chuffed about the solution itself. “You just stick with me. If you’re right next to me, he can’t drag you off and kiss you. Problem solved.”

She looked up at him, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Yeah?”

“I’ll protect your virtue, Rose Tyler. Don’t you worry.” 

Rose gave him a shrewd look and he assumed she was judging his sincerity, then shook her head, turning away. “No.”

He was a bit indignant. Here he’d offered to do something he considered to be quite gallant, and she was turning him down. What on Earth?

“And why not?” he demanded, all wounded dignity.

She sighed heavily, beseeching the ceiling, then turned around to look at him. “Because, Doctor. Everyone here already thinks you’re my bloke. If we go out there and don’t leave each other’s sides, they’ll just have more ‘evidence’ that it’s the truth.”

That stung. No, he and Rose weren’t a proper couple, but they were mistaken for one all the time. It never seemed to bother her, and she always played along if the situation called for it. They both knew the truth - well, at least _he_ did. It could never be true. They would never be a couple. She’d never be his. But he cherished those little moments when he could pretend...just for a little while...

He asked her in a quiet voice, “Would that be so terrible?”

She looked up at him again, her eyes full of something he didn’t understand, then sighed once more and looked back down at her plate, shaking her head. “No.”

“Then let’s do it!”

Rose closed her eyes and gave her head a little shake. 

He put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Rose. I promise.” He gave her a bright smile to show her that he really meant it. 

She searched his eyes a little more, and he nodded encouragingly. “It’ll be brilliant.”

“Alright then.”

“Molto bene!” He held out his arm and Rose looped her hand through it, abandoning the eclairs and following him out into her mum’s lounge.

~*~O~*~

His plan had worked for about a half an hour. As predicted by Rose, they got a lot of smirking glances, three people made mention of what a cute couple they were, and one even asked when they were getting married. The Doctor let it all roll off his back, squeezing Rose’s hand every time someone made a comment.

Then Jackie Tyler made her way over to them. She had tinsel around her neck and was wearing a truly hideous jumper and reindeer antlers that flashed on top of her head. She didn’t walk toward them so much as she danced, a huge, drunken smile on her face, her hands raised - one holding some sort of beverage in a disposable cup. 

“Rose!” she called loudly, even though she was less than arm’s length away. “And Doctor!” 

“Hi, Mum.”

“How come you’re not dancin’?”

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but Rose beat him to the punch. “The Doctor doesn’t dance.”

Jackie looked him up and down, from his trainers to his artfully tousled hair, and harrumphed. “You don’t need _him_ to dance. Come with me!”

“Mum -”

He squeezed her hand and murmured in her ear. “Go on. It’ll make her happy, and I’ll watch you from right here.”

“Since when do you care about making my mother happy?” she challenged him.

“It’s Christmas. Everyone should be happy at Christmas.”

Rose gave him an uncertain look. “You’re sure?”

“Yep!” He popped the ‘p’.

“And you won’t swan off?”

“Cor, Rose, stop jabbering with that man and come dance with your mother!” Jackie slurred.

He gave her an encouraging nod. “Go on. I’m here.”

Rose gave him a tentative smile, then followed her mother out into the middle of the living room floor, dancing to ‘Jingle Bell Rock’. He watched her appreciatively: her hips swaying back and forth, her feet shuffling a little, stretching her arms into the air and turning around, laughing, her body moving in an almost sinuous rhythm that seemed completely at odds with the cheerful music. 

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets to hide the evidence of his arousal. It was a familiar gesture when Rose Tyler was around. 

“Doctor!”

He turned around to see Bev staggering towards him. He gave her a polite smile but didn’t offer his hand. Its presence was still necessary in his pocket - although becoming less so now that he was faced with Rose’s aunt.

“Hello, Bev.”

“So you finally decided to bring our girl home, eh?”

“For the party. We’ll be back...er...on the road again after.”

“You can’t even stay one night?”

“We’ll be back for Christmas in two weeks.”

She scoffed. “Jackie misses her, you know. Misses her somethin’ fierce. And it’s not like you can’t wait to shag until tomorrow.”

The Doctor gaped at her. “I’m not - we’re not…” he stammered. “We’re not _shagging_!”

_Oh, if wishing made it so._

Bev raised an eyebrow. “You’re not, are you? Well then, I suppose you won’t mind that Mickey’s making his move on her again.”

He looked up, his eyes darting around the room, and sure enough, Mickey had her by the hand and was dragging her towards the nearest doorway. Rose was protesting, trying to pull her hand free, and the Doctor’s blood boiled to see Mickey’s cajoling look. 

Without another word to Bev, he took off across the lounge to where Rose was being manhandled. Mickey almost had her under the mistletoe, but the Doctor was almost there...almost…

...there. 

Impulsively, the Doctor shoved Mickey backwards through the door, catching Rose when the Idiot let go of her, wrapping her in his arms loosely but protectively. 

Mickey clattered to the ground, sputtering. “What the hell?”

“I should be asking you the same. Rose couldn’t have been any more clear that she didn’t want to kiss you.” He turned and looked down at Rose. “Are you alright, love?”

Her eyes were wide, but she nodded. Satisfied with that response, the Doctor adjusted his arms around her a little, nuzzling her a little closer without thinking, then turned back to Mickey. “Sod off. Don’t touch her again.”

Mickey got to his feet and walked to the door, muttering curses about high and mighty alien gits, but the Doctor paid no attention. 

Then someone shouted, “Kiss her!”

He darted his head towards the sound and saw that everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing to stare at he and Rose. The music had stopped, and the entire party seemed to be frozen in action. 

Jackie Tyler’s voice rang through the flat, and the Doctor was shocked. “Yeah! Kiss her, you plum!”

“Mum!” Rose hissed. Jackie just smiled back, drunk and completely unrepentant.

It occurred to him that the two of them were standing in a doorway under mistletoe and he had his arms wrapped around her. It wasn’t an unusual position for them - he put his arms around Rose rather often - but something felt different this time. Things felt...charged. Pregnant with potential. 

“ _Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!_ ”

He looked back down at Rose, whose eyes were not just wide, they were a little wild, too. His own eyes flitted from hers down to her lips. They looked impossibly soft, parted just a little, and - oh, Rassilon - she _licked_ them. His hearts thundered in his chest. Could he do it? All the saints knew he wanted to. Maybe just a quick, chaste little pressing of the lips wouldn’t be the end of the world...

“Rose Tyler…” he said, just loud enough to be heard over the chanting.

“Yes, Doctor?”

“There’s a perfectly good sprig of mistletoe over our heads.”

She nodded. “There is.”

“It’d be a shame to waste it.”

She nodded again. “It would. A terrible shame.”

“I’d like to kiss you under this mistletoe, if that’s alright.”

Her eyes grew impossibly wider, then she smiled a little. “I’d like that.”

Before another second passed, before she had a chance to change her mind, before he could think about it anymore, he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers. They were just as soft as they’d looked, and he gloried in their warmth. She moved her head just the tiniest amount, sliding her mouth against his, and he did the same, finding a better angle. Then, without his knowledge or consent, his tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. 

She put her arms on his shoulders, then placed one hand on the back of his neck to hold him close ( _Ha! As if _that_ was going to be a problem_ ) and parted her lips under his. He didn’t hesitate to take the invitation she offered, and slid his tongue between her lips to explore. 

Oh, bloody hell. The Doctor had never been a religious man, but this was heaven, he was sure of it. His senses were full of _Rose_...the smell of her shampoo, the faint taste of the chocolate from the eclairs, the light scrape of her fingernails against his back, the roaring in his ears that was nothing more than her name. 

He deepened the kiss further, letting his tongue chase after hers playfully, mapping out the contours of her mouth. She pressed tighter against him, her body flush against his, and oh that was _brilliant_ , that was. He tried to pull her tighter, but realized that she was as close to him as she could get and remained clothed.

Come to think of it -

The kiss broke suddenly when something hit him in the back of the head. He looked up, a bit dazed, to find Jackie with a pillow in her hand and a thunderous look on her face - the Jackie Tyler edition of the Glare of Doom™. The crowd behind her laughed, and most of them went back to what they’d been doing.

“Oi!”

“Oi yourself! What are you doing snogging my daughter like that?”

Rose groaned, putting her forehead on his chest to hide her face.

“You told me to!”

“I didn’t mean for you two to start makin’ grandbabies in my lounge!”

Rose groaned again, burrowing her face deeper. He rocked her a little, hoping to soothe her, and brought his arms higher around her back, laying his forearm over her shoulder blades, helping to shield her face if that’s what she wanted. 

“Nobody’s makin’ grandbabies, Mum,” she said from the security of his arms. 

“Could have fooled me!” Jackie retorted. “And what about ‘ _We’re not like that, Mum.’ ‘The Doctor and me are just friends, Mum.’ ‘There’s no hanky-panky, Mum!’_ ”

Rose raised her head, her eyes flashing. “There’s not!” 

“This was our first kiss, Jackie, and you’re ruining it.”

He felt, rather than saw, Rose’s look at him, and he turned his head to look down at her. 

“Our first?” she asked, tentative.

The Doctor did his absolute best to look casual, but knew he failed miserably. “Weeell…yeah. I mean. First of many, if you want.”

She gave him a brilliant smile, the kind of smile that would light up even the darkest room. “Yeah. Yeah, I want.”

His shoulders felt as if all of the tension he’d ever had in them had bled away, and he relaxed into the embrace. “Brilliant,” he beamed back down at her. “Shall we get out of here?”

Rose looked over at her Mum, who had lost interest and was now back to dancing. “Yeah. I think so.”

The Doctor finally let go of her, grabbing her hand and leaning over to whisper in her ear. “Run!”

**Author's Note:**

> From a couple of prompts that I honestly don't remember where they came from. If they're yours, thank you!  
> ~"There's some perfectly lovely mistletoe over our heads. Be a shame to waste it."  
> ~ “I get caught with one of my friends under the mistletoe and you literally sprint from across the room to shove them out of the way and take their spot”  
> ~ "hiding in the kitchen stress eating because the ex is at this party"


End file.
